Ras Shorty I (6 October 1941 – 12 July 2000), born Garfield Blackman and also known as Lord Shorty, was a
Trinidadian
Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...
He was born Garfield Blackman in Lengua Village, Princes Town, Trinidad, and rose to fame as "Lord Shorty" with his 1963 hit "Cloak and Dagger", subsequently taking the name Ras Shorty. A prolific musician, composer and innovator, Shorty experimented with fusing calypso and the other Indian-inspired music, including
chutney music
Chutney music is a fusion genre of Indian folk music, specifically Bhojpuri folk music, with local Caribbean calypso and soca music, and later on Bollywood music. This genre of music that developed in Trinidad and Tobago is popular in Trinida ...
, for nearly a decade before unleashing "the soul of calypso,"...
soca music
Soca music is a genre of music defined by Lord Shorty, its inventor, as the "Soul of Calypso", which has influences of African and East Indian rhythms. It was originally spelt "sokah" by its inventor but through an error in a local newspaper ...
. Shorty was the first to really define his music and with "Indrani" in 1973 and "Endless Vibrations" (not just the song but the entire album) in 1975, calypso music really took off in another direction. On 30 August 1977 Shorty's friend and collaborator Maestro (Cecil Hume) died in an accident in Trinidad and his loss was felt by Shorty, who penned "Higher World" as a tribute.
In
Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographicall ...
, Shorty had attended an
Exile One
Exile One is a cadence musical group founded by Gordon Henderson in the 1970s with musicians invited over from Dominica, to be based in Guadeloupe. The band was influential in the development of Caribbean music. It became famous throughout the C ...
performance of
cadence-lypso
Cadence-lypso is a fusion of cadence rampa from Haiti and calypso from Trinidad and Tobago that has also spread to other English speaking countries of the Caribbean. Originated in the 1970s by the Dominican band Exile One on the island of Guade ...
, and collaborated with Dominica's 1969 Calypso King, Lord Tokyo, and two calypso lyricists, Chris Seraphine and Pat Aaron, in the early 1970s, who wrote him some creole lyrics. Soon after Shorty released a song, "Ou Petit", with words such as "Ou di mwen ou piti Shorty" (meaning "you told me you are small Shorty"), a combination of calypso, cadence and kwéyòl. Shorty's 1974 ''Endless Vibrations'' and ''Soul of Calypso'' brought soca to its peak of international fame.
Soca's development as a musical genre included its fusion with calypso, cadence, and Indian musical instruments—particularly the dholak, tabla and dhantal—as demonstrated in Lord Shorty's classic compositions "Ïndrani" and "Shanti Om".
His fame continued to grow throughout the 1970s, and he became one of the country's top performers. He recorded tracks such as "Kim" and "Money Eh No Problem", which was a stinging political and social commentary based on the words of Trinidad's then Prime Minister,
Eric Williams
Eric Eustace Williams (25 September 1911 – 29 March 1981) was a Trinidad and Tobago politician who is regarded by some as the "Father of the Nation", having led the then British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to majority rule on 28 October 1 ...
of the
People's National Movement
The People's National Movement (PNM) is the longest-serving and oldest active political party in Trinidad and Tobago. The party has dominated national and local politics for much of Trinidad and Tobago's history, contesting all elections si ...
. "Money Eh No Problem" was used in a political advertising campaign in 2000 for the
United National Congress
The United National Congress ( UNC or UNCTT) is one of two major political parties in Trinidad and Tobago and the current parliamentary opposition. The UNC is a centre-left party. It was founded in 1989 by Basdeo Panday, a Trinidadian lawyer, ...
while Shorty lay on his deathbed unable to protest the use of his music for the wrong reasons, a guiding principle behind his life choices.
In 1984, he voiced his disenchantment with soca, claiming it was being used for the wrong reasons. A short time thereafter, he embraced a strict form of Christianity, adopted the name Ras Shorty I and moved with his family to the Piparo forest in the southern hills of Central Range (Trinidad and Tobago), where he and his family focused on creating faith-based music.
In the late 1980s, he began recording again, fusing soca and gospel in a style he called Jamoo. He continued recording into the late 1990s, writing hits such as "
Watch Out My Children
"Watch Out My Children" is a song composed and recorded by the late Trinidadian calypsonian Ras Shorty I in the 1997. It is a song telling about drug abuse. It was translated into ten languages.
"Watch Out My Children" was adopted by the Unite ...
", which focuses on the dangers of drug abuse. The song was recorded in ten languages and was adopted by the UN in an anti-cocaine campaign. He toured transnationally with his band, the Love Circle, which consisted mainly of family members. During his lifetime Lord Shorty fathered a total of 23 children. The Love Circle included his wife Claudette and sons Eldon, Sheldon and Isaac, who have gone on to record several highly infectious hits, including "Blessed are the Elders" and "To The Ceiling". His daughters, Marge, Nehilet and Avion Blackman, also have successful careers in recording and fashion design. Artist
Ataklan
Mark Antonio Jiminez, better known by his stage name Ataklan is a Trinidadian singer-songwriter and performer primarily of the modern rapso tradition. Ataklan has been referred to as "Trinidad's answer to Beck" and a "fiercely independent songwr ...
has also benefited under the musical training of Ras Shorty I and has gone on to become a maverick of the
Rapso
Rapso is a form of Trinidadian music that grew out of the social unrest of the 1970s. Black Power and unions grew in the 1970s, and rapso grew along with them. The first recording was ''Blow Away'' by Lancelot Layne in 1970. Six years late ...
tradition.
The family aims to put across positive messages with their music, focusing especially on youth. They also exhort modern soca artists to preach positivity and the word of God through their music. Through his daughter Abbi Blackman, Ras Shorty is the grandfather of rising star Nailah Blackman.